▲ In this file photo from June 11, 2021, members of the KT Wiz celebrate their 6-5 victory over the Hanwha Eagles in a Korea Baseball Organization regular season game at KT Wiz Park in Suwon, 45 kilometers south of Seoul. (Yonhap)
▲ In this file photo from June 15, 2021, fans take in a Korea Baseball Organization regular season game between the home team Doosan Bears and the Samsung Lions at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul. (Yonhap)
▲ In this file photo from June 18, 2021, fans attend a Korea Baseball Organization regular season game between the home team Lotte Giants and the Samsung Lions at Sajik Stadium in Busan, 450 kilometers southeast of Seoul. (Yonhap)

(5th LD) baseball-coronavirus

(5th LD) 2 KBO games canceled due to COVID-19 protocols

(ATTN: UPDATES with latest info in paras 5-6)

SEOUL, June 29 (Yonhap) -- Two South Korean baseball games were wiped out on Tuesday due to coronavirus protocols, the first such cancellations during the pandemic.

The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) announced that the game between the KT Wiz and the LG Twins in Seoul, and another between the Doosan Bears and the Hanwha Eagles in Daejeon, 160 kilometers south of the capital, will not take place at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday as scheduled.

A coach for the Wiz tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday, while the rest of the club tested negative Tuesday. The team was still awaiting findings of an epidemiological study to determine if there had been any close contact. As the investigation dragged on closer to game time, the league decided to keep KT players isolated and reschedule their game.

The Wiz had played against the Eagles in Daejeon over the weekend, and health authorities weren't able to complete their contact tracing at Hanwha Life Eagles Park there, resulting in the cancellation of the Bears-Eagles game.

The Wiz announced Tuesday evening that there were no close contacts with the coach, and that their players returned to their road hotel in Seoul.

The Wiz and the Twins will play a doubleheader on Wednesday, starting at 3 p.m.

Last year, the KBO's only brush with COVID-19 came at the end of August, when an Eagles minor league pitcher tested positive for the virus. Another minor leaguer tested positive, but only minor league games were canceled, while the KBO season proceeded as usual.

Also on Monday, a Bears scout tested positive for COVID-19, but the rest of the team got the clearance following negative tests and epidemiological study.

Under KBO's COVID-19 protocols, players or officials who test positive or who are listed as close contacts must be quarantined.

Before the start of the season, the KBO said it would not halt the season based on a small number of positive cases on teams, and that it would allow such teams to expand their rosters temporarily to fill any resulting holes and keep the season going.

However, in case of a mass infection that leaves a club severely shorthanded, then the league will convene an emergency board meeting to discuss a potential stoppage of play for up to three weeks -- two weeks of quarantine, followed by one week of practice for clubs.

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